Top articles from Brain and Behavior Issue 2.4

Highlighted below are two articles from this issue selected by Editor-in-Chief Andrei Alexandrov:

Pharmacological evidence that D-aspartate activates a current distinct from ionotropic glutamate receptor currents in Aplysia californica
Stephen L. Carlson, Andrew T. Kempsell and Lynne A. FieberAbstract: D-Aspartate (D-Asp) activates a Na+ and K+ current of unknown identity independent of L-glutamate (L-Glu) in neurons of Aplysia californica. Portions of D-Asp currents were blocked by L-Glu antagonists including kynurenate and APV, but L-Glu currents were unaffected by APV, and showed greater block by kynurenate, suggesting that D-Asp and L-Glu may act at different sites. The mixed pharmacological results as well as an asymmetrical desensitization by D-Asp of L-Glu currents suggest that D-Asp channels in Aplysia are not uniformly characteristic of any known agonist-associated channel type.